


Chicken

by In a Fishbowl (sameuspegasus)



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Best Friends, Fluff, M/M, No Smut, Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-04
Updated: 2017-12-04
Packaged: 2019-02-10 13:05:12
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,103
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12912513
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sameuspegasus/pseuds/In%20a%20Fishbowl
Summary: Remember when Harry and Niall watched The Notebook together?





	Chicken

**Author's Note:**

> I don't know what happened. I wasn't even a 1D fan, I just liked their solo stuff and then I saw a lot of out-of-context photos on the internet, and well, here we are.

“Wanna watch a movie?” Harry asks.

Niall shrugs. Everyone else is going out. Doing things with girlfriends. Dates and such. Probably coming back to the hotel after to do other stuff couples do. It is Valentine’s Day, after all. Not that he gives a shit. Just another day, isn’t it? An excuse for shops to get people to buy stuff. Americans go wild for it though, just like for Halloween, and any other made up holiday they can get their hands on. “Guess so,” he replies.

They go back to Niall’s room, because it’s tidier than Harry’s. Harry makes himself at home, flopping down right in the middle of Niall’s bed. Niall shoves him over and lies down next to his friend, propping himself up on the gazillions of pillows, the smooth cotton of the freshly ironed pillowcases cool against his skin. He’ll never get used to this kind of luxury. Harry hauls himself up next to Niall, so they’re sitting shoulder to shoulder, despite the fact that there’s plenty of room on the bed. Niall lets him stay there. They’ve never had any personal space, not even when they barely knew each other. There’s something about the feeling of Harry beside him that makes his insides warm.

“We should watch something scary,” Harry suggests. Niall glances at him in confusion. Harry’s not a scary movie guy. He’s just not. He likes things to be beautiful. He wants strong feelings and grand gestures and true love and happy endings. He’s never in his life suggested watching something scary.

“Maybe I’ll like it,” Harry says when he sees Niall’s puzzled expression. “They can’t be that bad if you like them so much.”

Niall remembers with an internal groan that he had told an interviewer that very day that scary movies were his favourites. He’d just been trying to sound cooler, less like an innocent little boy, the same way he had been when he’d said he’d been compared with Justin Bieber or that he’d been twelve when he’d first made out with someone. He’s got to stop doing that.

Harry’s eyes are twinkling, his dimples just starting to appear as he tries unsuccessfully to hide a smile. Oh. Harry’s messing with him. Of course he knows Niall was lying. He always knows. Just for that, Niall’s gonna go through with it and make Harry watch the scariest thing he can think of. It’ll serve Harry right. It’s on.

“The Exorcist alright with you?” Niall asks. It’s rhetorical. The film has already started. Harry looks nervous, but he’s not backing down. Damn his stubborn arse. They’re only 10 seconds in and the music is already freaking Niall out. He’s having flashbacks to when he watched Saw with the lads from school. He’d had nightmares for days. But that was five years ago. He’s an adult now. In some places, anyway. He glances across at Harry. He knows Harry’s only teasing him about making stuff up in the interview. Harry won’t laugh at him for getting scared. He won’t judge, or think he’s weak, or less of a man for not liking horror films. He’s got no reason to impress Harry. Harry likes him just the way he is. Harry is, however, extremely competitive, and is staring at the screen with an expression of absolute determination. Niall’s resolve hardens. He likes to pretend he’s not competitive, but that’s just so it’s less embarrassing when he loses. He returns his gaze to the screen. He’s going to win this game of chicken if it kills him.

Two hours later, he is deeply regretting his choice.

“Well, that was a bad idea,” Harry’s voice rumbles directly into his right ear. He can feel the vibration of the sound in Harry’s throat against his cheek and is suddenly very aware that they’re curled into each other. Harry’s arms are around Niall’s waist and Niall has his face nestled into the curve of Harry’s throat. He goes to reply and realizes that his lips are actually touching his friend’s collarbone, inside the open neck of Harry’s shirt. He should probably move before Harry starts thinking the attempt at speaking was Niall kissing his neck. His body won’t follow instructions, though. Apparently it actually is possible to become paralysed with fear. But then he feels Harry’s heart thumping in his chest and realizes that the reason he can’t move is that Harry is using him as a teddy-bear, clinging to him so tightly that it’s getting hard to breathe.

A strange, rhythmic banging starts echoing from the wall behind them, loud in the quiet that’s filling the room now the movie has finished. The rational part of Niall’s brain knows that it’s just the people in the room next door getting it on, but the rest of it is screaming “HOLY FUCKIN’ SHIT IT’S A DEMON FROM HELL!”

“Do you want to stay in here tonight?” He asks Harry’s collarbone pathetically.

“Yes!” Harry’s breath ruffles the hair around Niall’s ear.

“Niall?” says Harry, a few seconds later. “What I’m about to ask is going to sound a bit weird…”

Not a good start. If Harry thinks a request is gonna be a bit weird, it’s bound to be _extremely_ weird by normal-person standards. Luckily, Niall’s not all that hung up on whether things are weird or not. “What is it?” He asks, wriggling around in Harry’s slightly loosened embrace.

“I need to wee, and I’m gonna need you to come to the toilet with me.”

Niall suddenly realizes he also needs to pee. It’s not that weird. They’ve pissed in the same toilet before. Maybe Harry thinks it will be weirder if it’s just the two of them, but Niall’s busting and too scared to shut himself in the bathroom alone. “Come on then,” he says graciously, “I’ll protect you. You can hold my hand if you get too scared.”

They make a detour to turn on the light and don’t drop hands until it’s absolutely necessary.

Once they’re settled safely back on the bed, Niall picks up the remote in his right hand because his left is still intertwined with Harry’s. The thumping is still coming from the next room and surely that’s been going on too long… maybe it’s not people after all. An unearthly groaning starts up, and that is surely not a sound made by man or woman. As his eyes meet Harry’s a fit of slightly hysterical laughter bubbles up inside them both. They lean into each other, faces almost touching.

“What do you want to watch?” Niall asks as soon as he can get his breath back.

“How do you feel about The Notebook?”

Under normal circumstances, Niall would make a show of protesting that it’s boring, but he needs to watch something that will ease the scarring from The Exorcist, and nobody’s here to hear him anyway. “Okay.”

Niall’s never really bought the fated-romance, one-true love aspect of The Notebook, but he likes the music. He plays about with stuff in that style on guitar sometimes. It’s calming. It’s kind of nice, sitting on his bed, pressed against his best friend from shoulder to ankle. Their hands are still clasped together, warm, almost tingly where they touch. He’s glad they turned the lights on, because now he can see Harry’s face and it makes him less afraid. If something comes for them in the night, there’s no-one he’d rather die with than Harry.

There are seagulls squawking on the screen. Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams are splashing in the sea, arms out like wings. Harry jabs a finger into Niall’s side. “If you’re a bird, I’m a bird.”

Niall meets his eyes for a second and squeezes his hand. “I just thought of a new dance for next show,” he says, grinning.

“Let’s do it! One of the slow ones,” Harry agrees, turning his attention back to the screen.

Niall makes it all the way to the end of the film without falling asleep for the first time ever. Whether that’s to do with the story growing on him, or how much Harry loves it, or the fact that there might be a demon in the next room is up for debate. It’s strangely quiet once the film ends, all the spookiness from before creeping back in.

They tuck themselves under the covers still dressed and leave the light on.

“I’m still freaked out,” Harry whispers.

Niall curls protectively around him. “It’s okay.” He feels kind of vulnerable with his back exposed, but he can tell it makes Harry feel better, and it’s comforting having his best friend so close he can feel his body heat and smell his shampoo.

He still doesn’t sleep that well, waking up from nightmares with a hammering heart and once with a sore shin where Harry’s kicked him. He finally falls asleep properly just before dawn.

“Niall, can I borrow your –“ Niall is rudely awoken by a door slamming open and a loud Yorkshire accent. “Oh, umm, hi Harry. You guys have a good night?” Niall can practically see the cheeky grin on Louis’ face despite the fact that his eyes are still closed and Harry’s curls are all over his face. They’ve rolled over in the night so Niall’s on his back with Harry draped all over him, his arm a dead weight across Niall’s chest. Deciding the best option is to pretend he's still asleep, Niall keeps his eyes shut and tries not to react when he hears the camera.

“It’s cool, I’ll borrow something from Zayn,” Louis says chirpily, “You guys should probably get up, we got more of them interviews today.”

When he hears the door close, he shakes Harry awake. Harry blinks sleepily at Niall and runs his hand up Niall’s side. Shit, his face is close to Niall’s. Niall would barely have to move to… wait, what was he thinking? Sharing his bed was making him all kinds of confused. “We gotta get ready to go,” he says, wriggling out from the maze of Harry’s limbs.

The interviews are dull. It’s always hard when it’s all five of them. Mostly the interviewers just want to ask Harry about all the girls they think he’s banging and no-one else gets a look-in. True to form, the very first interviewer, a middle-aged lady from some magazine none of them have heard of opens with the tried and true, “What did you all do for Valentine’s Day?”

 Before Niall can open his mouth to say what an empty gesture celebrating Valentine’s Day is (and man, would he have got in trouble for that, he’s the nice one, he has to love everything), Liam starts talking about how he took his girlfriend somewhere special.

“Me too,” Louis adds, although the interviewer is barely paying him any attention, “But my girlfriend, not Liam’s.”

“Same,” says Zayn, and doesn’t go into detail.

He doesn’t get the chance, because the interviewer is already thrusting the mic at Harry (she doesn’t even look at Niall, but that’s not unusual when they’re all there). “And you, Harry? Did you take your girl anywhere special?”

Harry smirks at her and pays no heed to Niall’s elbow in his ribs. “Niall and I held hands and watched The Notebook. It was lovely.”

Niall laughs awkwardly. The lady looks bewildered for a second, before apparently deciding it’s a joke. “Fine, keep your secrets,” she says, only half-joking.

Niall can feel Louis’ eyes boring into the side of his burning face. “And what did you do, Niall?” The interviewer asks him kindly, like she’s talking to a slow eight-year-old.

Niall does what he always does when he doesn’t want to answer something and just repeats the question and laughs. Come to think of it, that might be why they all seem to think he’s a bit dim. He accidentally looks across at Harry and sees a 100% genuine, pure Harry smile, the kind that goes all the way to the eyes and just can’t be contained. He feels himself catch it and totally misses the next question.

They get asked that same question in every single interview. Niall starts to play along, making dramatic romantic faces at Harry and coming up with more and more elaborate and unbelievable stories about how they spent Valentine’s Day until they’re both falling about laughing and everyone else is staring at them like they’re from a different planet.

When the interviews are finally over and they’re all making their way back to their rooms, Harry links his arm with Niall’s. “Wanna watch a movie?” he asks.

Niall shrugs. “Okay.”

 

 

 

 


End file.
